


Choices

by verucasalt123



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Child Abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Guilt, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-24 17:45:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4929181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verucasalt123/pseuds/verucasalt123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek tries to resurrect his earlier conversation with Isaac about his former situation at home</p>
            </blockquote>





	Choices

_”You know, it's funny that the kids getting beaten up are always the ones who least deserve it.”_ \- Sheriff Stilinski

 

Isaac and Derek had that one brief talk about how Isaac had been abused by his father, with Isaac only willing to say that his father “didn’t always do that”. Which was true - Isaac had some really nice memories of his dad when he was younger. When he still had a mom and a brother. 

Impressed with his control on the night of the full moon, Derek had a genuine interest in getting to know more about him. One evening when they were eating takeout, Derek brought it up again. 

“I know this is really hard to talk about, and if you don’t want to, it’s okay. It’s just that I can’t understand how your father changed so much. Was it because of your brother dying?”

Isaac gave him what was now a trademark eyeroll. “Wow, Derek, just go straight for the most uncomfortable dinner conversation, why don’t you? I mean, I know you were raised by wolves and all, but…”

Derek cut him off there. “Sorry. I said you don’t have to say anything you don’t want to. And very funny about being raised by wolves, I’ve never, _ever_ heard that one before.”

“Stiles?”, Isaac asked. Derek nodded, his mouth full of lo mein. 

“You didn’t have to take me in. I’ll talk about it. It’s fine, not something I have to worry about anymore, you know? And _raised by wolves_ probably isn’t a benign joke to you. I know that your family was close and there was a lot of love there. Losing them must have been your biggest nightmare..”

Looking up at Isaac, Derek replied, “Of course it was. I was barely your age when it happened, maybe even a little younger. I had an amazing family, and even though losing them was so awful, I can’t imagine living in a household of abuse and neglect.”

At that point, Isaac put down his fork and started to laugh. “You know, people always lump those two things together - abuse and neglect, like they’re the same thing or even equally damaging. You changed, right? After the fire? You were never the same again.”

“No...no, I haven’t ever been the same as I had been before. How could I be?”, Derek asked.

Isaac had stopped laughing by this point. “When we lost Camden, my dad was never the same, either. Just in a different way. After Camden was gone, my dad idealized him in his mind, like he was this perfect kid that I could never measure up to. All of a sudden, he was like a different person. Nothing I did was ever good enough. Everything was a comparison. _Cam would never have brought home grades like this_. There’s a reason he joined the military after high school - his grades weren’t good enough for college. Like I said, though, somehow my dad created this fantasy image of a perfect son he’d lost and it wasn’t fair he’d been left with a loser like me.”

Derek hadn’t ever heard Isaac say so much all at once. He just nodded and kept listening, having gone from wanting to learn more about Isaac to wanting Isaac to get all this off his chest. Clearly it was not the kind of conversation he’d had with anyone else. 

“When it started, him throwing things at me, calling me worthless, punishing me for the slightest thing or even for no reason at all, hitting me...I was so confused. I didn’t understand what I’d done wrong, what I had to do to make my dad happy. But eventually I realized that there was nothing. All of this was in his head and he just took everything out on me. That day in the graveyard I had a black eye, remember? The Sheriff asked about it but my dad was standing right there so I said it was from playing lacrosse. No one ever gave a shit or tried to help, but they knew.”

Suddenly, Derek remembered Isaac had brought up a few minutes ago. “Why did you laugh about me saying _abuse and neglect_? Was that not the right thing to say?”

“You have no idea what I would have given to suffer neglect, Derek. I’ve always been a pretty resourceful kid. I could’ve found ways to feed myself if I needed food, and the school would have given me food. They always did, even when I didn’t have money for it. I had at least four inches on Cam and we still had all his stuff. I could have figured out how to make his things fit me if I needed clothes. Even if my dad hadn’t sent me to school, I would have gone anyway. If he’d just ignored me and not taken care of me and not remembered I was even there it would have been better. If I’d had a choice between _abuse_ and _neglect_ , I would have chosen neglect without a second thought. I was mourning my brother too, but I had no friends or anyone to talk to about it. A complete mess, basically, is what I was when this all first started. But you - well, you’re pretty much the one who changed that for me.”

Sitting back in his chair, Derek took in all that Isaac had to say. He thought it pretty much sucked to be Isaac Lahey for all of those years, and had to agree that while being abused and being neglected could sometimes overlap, that had not been Isaac’s experience. 

“Okay. Thanks for explaining it to me. I’m really sorry if I said anything hurtful, or if my questions were out of line..”

“It’s okay. We’ve got each other here; maybe no parents or siblings, but two guys who understand each other a bit easier these days.”


End file.
